Furnace burner mounting



March 27, 1962 J. E. BRIGGS FURNACE BURNER MOUNTING Filed Jan. 20, 1960 INVENTOR JAMES EVERETT BRIGGS A RNEY United States Patent 3,026,926 FURNACE BURNER MOUNTING James Everett Briggs, Orange, Tex., assignor to E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Wilmington, Del, a corporation of Delaware Filed Jan. 20, 196i), Ser. No. 3,600 1 Claim. (Cl. 158-1) This invention relates to a new and improved furnace, and more particularly to a novel method of mounting a burner assembly in a furnace.

In mounting a burner assembly in a multi-component furnace wall, several problems arise. Due to the temperature gradient across the sections of the wall, each Wall expands a different amount when heated to operating temperature. In a particularly tall furnace, the inner brick lining expands upward a considerably greater distance than the outer Walls. In piercing the wall of the furnace to insert a burner, it is desirable to maintain as tight a seal as possible around the burner assembly. However, if the assembly is mounted in the wall with no clearance While the furnace is cold, upon heating, the assembly will be crushed by the greater upward expansion of the inner Wall. Replacing a ruptured burner assembly necessitates cooling the furnace for the repairs with the attendant loss of utility of the furnace. The designs presently commercially available are useful for many purposes, but have certain limitations. In general, the life of prior art burner assemblies was not satisfactory for use on furnaces containing a large number of burners, since the probability Was great that at least one of the burner assemblies would fail in a given period. Resolution of this difficulty has been a long standing problem in furnace design.

It is an object of this invention to provide a method of mounting burner assemblies in furnaces. It is another object of this invention to provide a furnace design which requires very little maintenance.

A novel feature of this invention is the method of mounting the burner assembly in the furnace wall. The invention may be better understood by reference to the accompanying drawings of which FIGURE 1 is a section of the furnace Wall and burner assembly and FIG- URE 2 is an elevation of the burner assembly as it is mounted in the furnace wall.

The burner block 11 is mounted in the inner wall 12 of the furnace. The inner wall 12 and the burner block 11 are preferably constructed of firebrick or other refractory material. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the burner block 11 is set in the wall by means of mortar or the like. The inner wall 12 is covered with insulating material 13 which, in turn, is covered with a steel outer layer 14. Firmly attached to the burner block 11 is the burner block holder 15. The burner block holder 15 is attached to the steel outer ice layer 14 by means of metal clips 16 which are held in position on the steel outer layer 14 by means of a nut and stud 17. The clips 16 allow the burner block holdor 15 to slide vertically with respect to the steel outer layer 14. The burner 18 is attached to burner block holder 15 by means of a stud and nut 19. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the burner 18 is connected to a source of combustible material by means of a flexible hose 20. When the furnace heats to operating temperature, the inner Wall 12 and the burner block 11 move upward due to the linear thermal expansion of the hot inner wall 12 assuming the furnace to be supported on a foundation. The burner block holder 15 and the burner 18 move upward with the burner block 11 and the hot inner wall 12 partially filling the expansion space 21.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated, it will be understood that many modifications may be made Without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention defined by the appended claim.

The present invention is useful in the construction of furnaces having a multi-component wall, particularly in furnace commonly used in reforming processes.

I claim:

In a furnace comprising a furnace wall adapted to be supported by a foundation and having an outer steel layer, a layer of insulating material, and an inner layer of refractory material, and a burner assembly inserted in said Wall, said burner assembly comprising a burner, a burner block provided With a passage to detachably accommodate said burner and transmit gases from said burner into the furnace, and a burner block holder, said furnace wall having an opening to insert said burner block, the improvement which comprises an opening for said burner block in the inner layer of refractory material corresponding in size to the cross-section of the burner block, the opening for said burner assembly at the outer steel layer and the insulating layer being larger than the cross-section of said burner assembly by at least the linear upward expansion of the inner refractory layer relative to said foundation; said burner block holder comprising a steel plate permanently attached to said burner block and forming the outer surface of said burner assembly; said plate further extending beyond the opening of the outer steel layer of said furnace wall and slidably attached to the outer steel layer of said furnace wall.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,721,484 Heyn July 16, 1929 1,869,242 Frame July 26, 1932 1,884,894 Sherwood Oct. 25, 1932 2,060,993 Keith Nov. 17, 1936 2,805,709 Dailey Sept. 10, 1957 

